Nancy Guthrie: CODIS Returns ZERO DROPS BOMBSHELL – “Now We Start Genealogy”
The notification came through on Tuesday, February 17th, 2026.
Cotus had finished running.
[music] The FBI’s combined DNA index system had compared the unknown male profile from the black glove found 2 mi from Nancy Guthri’s home against 19 million offender profiles.
6 million arresty profiles and 1.45 million forensic profiles from crime scenes across the United States.
The system had searched every database simultaneously looking for a match that would give investigators a name, a face, a criminal history, a location.
The result came back empty.
No match, no name, no prior qualifying arrest.
The suspect who spent 41 minutes inside Nancy Guthri’s home the night she disappeared, who left biological material inside a glove he discarded in the Arizona desert, has never been in the Kota system.
But when Sheriff Chris Nanos confirmed that result to NBC News on Tuesday afternoon, he made something absolutely clear.
He said, and these are his exact words, “That’s not the end,” he continued.
[music] Now we start with genealogy and some of the partial DNA we have at the home.
Genealogy, the same forensic technique that identified the Golden State Killer after four decades.
The same pathway that has solved dozens of cold cases in the last 6 years.
The process that takes an unknown DNA profile and builds a family tree backward through public genealogy databases until it narrows to a specific individual.
It is slower than a Cotus hit.
But in 2026, with specialized FBI units and advanced algorithms, what used to take months now takes days, and investigators are not waiting.
The genealogy process has already begun.
Nancy Ellen Guthrie is 84 years old.
She was born January 27th, 1942 in Fort Wright, Kentucky.
She has lived in Tucson, Arizona for more than 50 years.
She was married to Charles Guthrie until his death in 1988 during a mining exploration trip in Mexico.
He was 49.
Nancy raised her three children, Savannah, Annie, and Cameron, and built an independent life in the Catalina foothills.
Her daughter, Savannah, is the co-anchor of NBC’s Today Show.
That connection is why this case is on every news channel in America.
But Nancy was a person, a full and real person, decades before her daughter became famous.
She is known in her church community.
She plays cards with family.
She drives herself places.
She manages her own home.
She is by all accounts mentally sharp and fiercely independent.
Despite mobility limitations and chronic pain, she has a pacemaker.
She takes daily medication for blood pressure.
Sheriff Nano said publicly [music] that she could not walk 50 yards without assistance.
Those are not background details.
Those are survival facts.
Every day without her medication is a medical countdown layered on top of a criminal investigation.
On the evening of January 31st, 2026, she had dinner at her daughter Annie’s house.
cards, family time.
Her son-in-law, Tomaso Tion, drove her home at 9:45 p.m.
The garage door closed at 9:50 p.m.
And sometime in the hours that followed, a masked man approached her front door, [music] spent 41 minutes on her property, and Nancy Guthrie disappeared.
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Every forensic update, every new piece of evidence, every investigative pivot, we are tracking all of it and breaking down what it means, where it leads, and why it matters.
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The Cotus result came back empty, but genealogy is starting.
Do you think the family tree pathway will identify the suspect? Tell me what you think, but be respectful.
This is about a real family.
Let’s be precise about what happened with Cotis and what it tells us.
The DNA profile extracted from the glove found approximately 2 miles from NY’s home was confirmed as belonging to an unknown male.
Preliminary results were received on Saturday, February 14th.
Quality control was completed.
The profile was viable, meaning it was complete enough and clean enough to be searchable.
It was submitted to Cotus, the FBI’s combined DNA index system.
COTUS contains as of late 2025 more than 19 million offender profiles from individuals convicted of qualifying crimes, over 6 million arresty profiles from people detained for serious offenses, and approximately 1.
45 million forensic profiles from unsolved crime scenes.
The system has produced more than 781,000 hits and assisted in over 758,000 investigations since it was established.
[music] When an unknown profile is run through Cotus, the system compares it against every entry simultaneously.
If there is a match, investigators receive immediate notification with a name, a criminal history, [music] and identifying information.
On Tuesday, February 17th, the Puma County Sheriff’s Department confirmed publicly [music] that the DNA from the glove did not yield any hits in the Cotus database.
No match.
What does that mean? It means the unknown male who left DNA inside that glove has never been arrested for a qualifying offense that would place his profile in the federal database.
It does not mean he has no criminal history.
It means he has no qualifying federal DNA entry.
There are categories of crimes in jurisdictions where DNA collection does not occur or is not submitted to COTUS.
A person with misdemeanor arrests with arrests in jurisdictions that do not routinely collect DNA [music] or with no arrests at all would not be in the system.
It also does not mean the investigation has hit a wall.
Sheriff Nanos was explicit about this.
He told NBC News on Tuesday afternoon, “That’s not the end.
Now we start with genealogy and some of the partial DNA we have at the home.
Genealogy, forensic genetic genealogy, the process that does not require the suspect to be in any criminal database.
It requires only that someone somewhere in his extended family submitted DNA to a consumer genealogy service.
And statistically in 2026, the probability that an American has at least one relative in a public genealogy database is extraordinarily high.
Let’s talk about how that process actually works because it matters.
Investigators take the unknown DNA profile and upload it to public genealogy databases like GED Match, Family Tree DNA, and other platforms where users have opted into law enforcement searches.
The system is not looking for the suspect.
It is looking for genetic relatives.
Third cousins, great ants, [music] distant family members who share enough markers to indicate a common ancestor.
Once partial matches are found, forensic genealogologists build family trees.
[music] They work backward to identify the common ancestor, then forward through every descendant line to narrow the pool.
They eliminate females if the suspect is male.
They eliminate individuals who were not in Arizona on February 1st, 2026.
They eliminate people who do not match the physical description from the surveillance footage.
Eventually, the tree narrows to a specific individual or a small group of individuals who fit every parameter.
Colleen Fitzpatrick, a leading forensic genealogologist who has worked on dozens of cases, described the process this way.
It is like solving a sudoku puzzle.
You are not looking for one match.
You are looking for a network.
If they are related to you, they are related to each other.
You build the connections.
You work the tree and eventually you find the person.
This is how Joseph James D’Angelo, the Golden State Killer, was identified in 2018.
He had committed crimes for more than a decade across California in the 1970s and 1980s.
He was never in Cotus, but a distant relative had submitted DNA to a public genealogy database.
That partial match built a tree.
The tree produced a specific suspect.
Discarded DNA from his trash confirmed the match.
He was arrested after four decades of anonymity.
The technology has advanced significantly since 2018.
The databases are larger.
The algorithms are faster.
The FBI has a specialized unit dedicated entirely to forensic genealogy.
[music] In 2026, what took months in the D’Angelo case can be compressed into days.
Sheriff Nanos also mentioned something critical in his statement to NBC.
He said, “We have some partial DNA we have at the home.
That is a separate profile from the glove.
That DNA collected from somewhere inside NY’s property also belongs to an unknown male.
It does not match Nancy or anyone in her known circle.
If the glove DNA and the home DNA match each other, investigators have the same unknown male at two locations inside the house and two miles down a specific route.
That chain of evidence is powerful even before genealogy produces a name.
If they do not match, the investigation has two separate unknown DNA sources to account for.
That could support theories about multiple people being involved.
It could also mean one profile has an innocent explanation.
Either way, the genealogy process is running and it does not require the suspect to have made a single mistake beyond leaving his DNA in a place where it could be found.
On Tuesday, Sheriff Nanos revealed something that has not been widely reported yet.
[music] He said that surveillance images from NY’s doorbell camera may show the suspect wearing a ring.
A ring.
He was careful.
He said, “I look at the same photo you look at and I see it.
I’m going to give that to my team.
They’ll look at that.
They’ll analyze it and we’ll see.
Maybe, maybe it is.
” But the fact that he mentioned it publicly means investigators are taking it seriously.
A ring is a visible, potentially distinctive piece of jewelry.
Rings can be identified by style, material, design.
If the suspect was wearing a ring during the commission of a crime and someone who knows him recognizes that ring from the footage, that is actionable intelligence.
The FBI has already described the suspect based on the doorbell footage.
Male approximately 5’9 to 5′ 10 tall.
Average [music] build, black ski mask, heavy black gloves, likely doubled, dark clothing, sneakers, 25 L Ozark Trail hiker pack backpack, a gun holster worn low on his body, and now possibly a ring visible in enhanced imagery.
Every detail matters.
Every identifiable characteristic narrows the pool.
The backpack is a Walmart exclusive.
The holster is a cheap approximately $10 model available at Walmart with a distinctive design that firearms experts have described as unusual.
The combination of that specific holster with what appears to be a Walther semi-automatic handgun in the footage is rare enough to be memorable.
And now a ring.
There is also new confirmation of the technology being used in the search.
Parsons Corporation issued a statement on Tuesday confirming that it has been assisting the Puma County Sheriff’s Department with a system called BlueFly.
[music] Bluefly is a Bluetooth and Wi-Fi sensor designed for search and rescue operations in challenging environments.
It has been deployed on helicopters, ground vehicles, and on foot across the terrain surrounding NY’s home.
The system works by detecting electronic signals and creating a heat map that identifies signal sources within a search area.
NY’s pacemaker emits a Bluetooth signal.
If that signal is active and within range, Bluefly can theoretically detect it.
The search has been extensive.
The fact that no signal has been detected means Nancy is either not in the areas that have been covered, the pacemaker is no longer transmitting, or there is a physical barrier preventing detection.
Sheriff Nanos also addressed something on Tuesday that raises questions about the timeline leading up to NY’s disappearance.
He confirmed that on February 1st, the day Nancy was reported missing, a neighbor called adult protective services.
APS sent an investigator to NY’s home.
Why did that neighbor call APS? What did they observe? Was it routine concern or was it based on something specific they noticed? Investigators have not disclosed the details of that APS visit or what prompted the neighbors call, but the timing, the same day Nancy was reported missing, suggests that neighbor may have information about NY’s condition or circumstances in the hours before her disappearance.
[music] Separately, US Border Patrol confirmed that its elite Borstar search and rescue team used a bright blue shirt visible in photos along the walkway to NY’s home as part of a K9 sent search.
The team was called to the property twice.
First on the night Nancy went missing [music] and again later when the FBI returned to the residence.
That blue shirt left intentionally as part of the scent tracking process became a visible marker in media coverage of the scene.
These details, the ring, the bluefly technology, the APS call, the Borstar K9 deployment are pieces of a larger operational picture.
Investigators are not sitting still.
They are working every available angle while the genealogy process runs in parallel.
Sheriff Nanos called the backpack one of the most promising leads in the entire investigation, and for good reason.
The 25 L Ozark Trail Hiker Pack, visible on the suspect’s back in the doorbell footage, is a Walmart private label exclusive.
It is not sold at any other retailer.
Every unit sold, whether in store or online, creates a transaction record.
Walmart has provided investigators with records of every purchase of that specific backpack made in recent weeks and months across Arizona and potentially neighboring states.
Nanos confirmed publicly that investigators are working with Walmart managers across the state [music] to determine how many sales occurred in the last 20, 30, and 60 days.
Every transaction has a date, a time, a store location, and a payment method.
Instore cash transactions are the hardest to trace by payment alone.
But every Walmart checkout lane has security cameras.
Every entrance has cameras.
Every parking lot has cameras.
A cash purchase still creates a visual record of the person who carried that backpack to the register and the vehicle they drove.
Online purchases are even more traceable.
IP addresses are logged.
Delivery addresses are logged.
Account information for Walmart Plus members or app users is logged.
Even a guest checkout creates digital exhaust that can be traced backward.
Investigators have spent several days reviewing Walmart surveillance footage at Tucson area locations.
That is not casual browsing.
That is systematic cross-referencing of purchase records against instore camera footage, looking for the specific transaction that put that specific backpack into the hands of the man who appeared at NY’s door.
And the backpack is not the only item.
The gun holster visible in the footage has been identified by law enforcement sources as a cheap, approximately $10 model available at Walmart.
Sheriff Nanos confirmed on Tuesday that investigators know the suspect had a gun and that the holster has unique characteristics.
Firearms experts have noted publicly that the combination of that specific lowquality holster with what appears to be a Walther style semi-automatic is unusual and potentially memorable to gun shop employees or sporting goods staff.
The ski mask and dark clothing may also trace to Walmart, though those items are not retailer exclusive.
Still, if the suspect purchased the backpack, the holster, the mask, and the clothing in a single shopping trip, or even across multiple trips within a narrow time window, those transactions are connected.
The profile of someone buying tactical preparation gear at a mass market retailer in the weeks before a break-in [music] is a specific and searchable event.
This is where retail forensics in 2026 becomes extraordinarily powerful.
Walmart’s database systems combined with facial recognition technology that can be applied to instore surveillance footage, combined with license plate readers in parking lots, create layers of traceable data that a suspect preparing for a crime almost never fully accounts for.
The man with the backpack thought he was anonymous because he wore a mask to the house.
He did not account for the fact that the preparation for the crime, the purchase of the equipment was already logged in systems that do not delete transaction records.
[music] Let’s talk about exactly what is happening right now with the genealogy process because it is the most important investigative [clears throat] thread currently active.
The FBI’s specialized genealogy unit [music] has taken the unknown male DNA profile from the glove and is uploading it to public genealogy databases.
Platforms like GED Match, which specifically allows law enforcement access, are the primary targets.
Users of these platforms have opted into having their genetic information compared against forensic profiles.
The upload does not search for the suspect.
It searches for anyone who shares genetic markers indicating a family relationship.
The system is looking for third cousins, fourth cousins, great great grandparents, descendants, anyone in the extended family tree.
When partial matches are found, forensic genealogologists begin building the tree.
This is painstaking work.
It requires accessing public records, genealogy databases, obituaries, marriage records, birth certificates, census [music] data, and any other publicly available information that maps family relationships.
The goal is to work backward from the partial match to a common ancestor and then forward through every descendant line until the tree narrows to individuals who match the parameters.
The parameters in this case are specific.
The suspect is male.
He is approximately 5’9 to 5′ 10 tall.
He has an average build.
He was in Tucson, Arizona on the night of February 1st, 2026.
He had access to or purchased a 25 L Ozark Trail hiker pack backpack.
He may have a distinctive ring.
He may have purchased a gun holster at Walmart.
He does not have a qualifying arrest in the Cotus database.
As the genealogy tree is built, individuals are eliminated systematically.
Females are eliminated if the DNA is confirmed male.
People who were verifiably not in Arizona on February 1st are eliminated.
[music] People whose physical characteristics do not match the surveillance footage are eliminated.
Eventually, the tree produces a short list of individuals, sometimes as few as one or two, who fit every single parameter.
At that point, investigators move to direct confirmation.
They collect discarded DNA from a suspect’s trash, from a cigarette butt, from a discarded cup, anything that can be tested without requiring a warrant.
That sample is compared against the glove profile.
If it matches, the identification is confirmed.
This process, which once took months, has been compressed significantly in recent years.
The databases are larger.
The algorithms that suggest family connections are faster.
The FBI has personnel dedicated entirely to this work.
Cases that took 6 months in 2018 are being solved in 2 to 3 weeks in 2026.
Sheriff Nanos also mentioned partial DNA from inside NY’s home.
If that partial profile can be enhanced [music] or if it is sufficient for genealogy searching, it provides a second pathway.
Two separate genealogy searches running in parallel increase the probability of finding overlapping family connections.
[music] If both profiles point to the same extended family, the tree narrows even faster.
The suspect, whoever he is, [music] likely believes that because he is not in Cotus, he is safe.
He does not understand that in 2026, not being in a criminal database is no longer sufficient protection.
The moment he left his DNA in that glove, he connected himself to a genetic network that extends to millions of people.
And somewhere in that network, someone, a third cousin who did a genealogy test out of curiosity, a distant aunt who wanted to trace her ancestry, a relative he may not even know exists, is in a database, and that connection will be found.
This is not [music] a matter of if, it is a matter of when.
On Monday, February 16th, Sheriff Nanos issued the most definitive statement about the Guthrie family that has been made during this investigation.
[music] He said, “To be clear, the Guthrie family, to include all siblings and spouses, has been cleared as possible suspects in this case.
The family has been nothing but cooperative and gracious, and are victims in this case.
To suggest otherwise is not only wrong, it is cruel.
The Guthrie family are victims, plain and simple.
” That statement came after weeks of speculation on social media and in certain media outlets about the family’s potential involvement.
Tomaso Chioni, Annie’s husband, was the last person documented to be with Nancy before she disappeared.
He drove her home.
Searches were conducted at Annie and Tomaso’s residence.
A vehicle was towed.
All of that fueled speculation.
Nanos ended it formally, completely.
[music] The family is cleared.
All siblings, all spouses.
They are victims, not suspects.
Arizona State Representative Alma Hernandez spoke publicly about the damage being done by social media misinformation in this case.
She called out what she described as grifters spreading false information for views.
She said, “Stop putting out this nonsense.
Based on the information they’re putting out, we’re seeing that the calls are increasing to the sheriff and FBI on tips because they saw a video that someone posted.
These are just individuals that are honestly grifting off of this.
It’s sad because we have a real family who’s been impacted in our community.
The tip line problem is real.
[music] Nearly 40,000 tips have been received.
The FBI’s National Threat Operations Center has fielded more than 18,000 tips alone.
But when a significant percentage of those tips are based on fabricated social media content rather than genuine observations, investigators have to spend time filtering signal from noise.
Every bad tip is time not spent following a real lead.
Savannah Guthrie posted another video on Sunday, February 15th, [music] marking 2 weeks since her mother disappeared.
She said, “We still have hope and we still believe.
” And I wanted to say to whoever has her or knows where she is that it’s never too late and you’re not lost or alone and it is never too late to do the right thing.
And we are here.
We believe.
We believe in the essential goodness of every human being.
That message is not just grief.
It is strategy.
If the person holding Nancy is someone who got in over their head, someone operating from panic rather than planning, someone who has spent 18 days trying to figure out what to do next, Savannah’s message is aimed directly at that psychology.
There is a way out.
Not a good way, but a way that does not require another irreversible decision.
The Tucson community has continued to rally.
Yellow flowers symbolizing hope have been placed outside NY’s home.
A banner reading, “Bring her home.
” outside the KVOA newsroom has collected signatures from across the country.
At St.
Andrews Presbyterian Church, where Nancy was a member, her name continues to be spoken in prayer.
400 investigators remain assigned to this case.
[music] That is not a small commitment.
That is the sustained application of resources across local, state, and federal agencies.
Sheriff Nano said on Tuesday, “As long as we have the ability to chase a lead, it’s not cold.
We’re not going to give up.
We’re going to find Nancy, and we’re going to find out who did this.
Let’s be clear about what is happening right now and what comes next.
[music] The genealogy process is running.
The FBI’s specialized unit is building family trees from partial DNA matches.
That work is happening 24 hours a day.
Every match found is a branch.
Every branch leads to more branches.
Eventually, those branches narrow to a trunk, and the trunk leads to a specific individual.
At the same time, the Walmart purchase analysis is ongoing.
[music] Investigators are cross-referencing transaction records against instore surveillance footage at every Tucson area location that sold the Ozark Trail Hiker Pack in the weeks leading up to February 1st.
[music] If the suspect paid with a card, the transaction is directly traceable.
If he paid cash, the camera footage captures his face and his vehicle.
Either way, the purchase is not anonymous.
The gun shop canvas that was conducted earlier in the investigation, where FBI agents brought a list of 40 names and 40 photographs to multiple firearms retailers, suggests that investigators have already narrowed the pool significantly from the initial 40,000 tips.
40 names is not a wide net.
That is a targeted list generated from credible intelligence.
Philip Martin, owner of a gun shop in Tucson, told reporters that authorities showed him 18 to 24 names and photos and that nobody on the list had purchased a gun from him.
The FBI declined to comment, but the fact that investigators are working through gun shops with specific names means the tip analysis has already produced actionable targets.
The ring detail, if confirmed through image enhancement, provides another identifiable characteristic.
Rings are personal.
They are often gifts.
They have emotional or symbolic meaning.
Someone who knows the suspect may recognize that ring.
The holster with what Sheriff Nanos called unique characteristics is another traceable item.
Walmart and gun shop employees may remember selling a $10 holster to someone who paired it with a higher-end firearm, which firearms experts have noted is an unusual combination.
All of these threads are running simultaneously, and any one of them reaching a conclusion accelerates everything else.
If genealogy produces a name, that name gets cross-referenced immediately against the Walmart purchase data, the gun shop canvas, the tipline information, and the physical description from the surveillance footage.
If Walmart records identify a purchaser, that individual’s DNA can be compared against the glove profile through discarded samples.
If the gun shop canvas produces a credible lead, that lead can be traced backward through family trees.
The investigation is not linear.
It isworked.
And in aworked investigation, every thread strengthens every other thread.
Let’s be direct about what 18 days means for Nancy Guthrie.
She is 84 years old.
She has a pacemaker.
She takes daily medication for blood pressure and chronic pain.
Her family has described her as being in constant pain, even under normal medical management.
Sheriff Nanos said publicly that she could not walk 50 yards without assistance.
18 days without blood pressure medication for someone with a significant cardiac history is not a minor gap in treatment.
Blood pressure that is uncontrolled for that length of time places sustained stress on the cardiovascular system.
The kidneys, the brain, [music] the risk of stroke, cardiac event, or organ damage compounds with every day that passes.
[music] The pacemaker itself does not require the smartphone app to function.
Implanted pacemakers operate independently, but the disconnection of the app at 2:28 a.
on February 1st indicated that Nancy was moved beyond Bluetooth range of her phone or that something severed that connection.
The pacemaker may still be functioning, [music] but without the monitoring system, there is no way to know if Nancy is experiencing arhythmias or other cardiac complications.
The Bluefly technology deployed by Parson’s Corporation was specifically searching for the pacemaker’s Bluetooth signal.
The fact that no signal has been detected across extensive aerial and ground searches means Nancy is not in the covered areas.
[music] The device is no longer transmitting or there is physical shielding preventing detection.
Every day this investigation continues is a day that matters in terms not just of legal outcome, but of biological survival.
The genealogy pathway is not slow by historical standards, [music] but for a woman who needed her medication 18 days ago, every additional day is risk layered on risk.
An inside source told Arizona’s family correspondent Briana Whitney earlier in the investigation that there is a widespread belief among investigators that Nancy could still be alive.
That assessment is based on evidence and behavioral analysis that has not been made public.
If that belief is grounded in reality, then the genealogy process is not just identifying a suspect.
It is potentially the pathway to a rescue.
President Donald Trump weighed in on the case again this week.
He told the New York Post in a phone interview that if Nancy Guthrie is not returned alive, he [music] will instruct the Justice Department to seek the most severe federal penalties against those responsible.
When asked directly if he meant the death penalty, Trump answered the most.
Yeah, that’s true.
The death penalty is authorized in Arizona for specific capital crimes.
Under federal law, kidnapping resulting in death carries potential maximum penalties, including the death penalty.
This is not just political rhetoric.
It is a direct statement from the sitting president about the consequences facing whoever is responsible for NY’s disappearance.
If the person holding Nancy is monitoring news coverage, which investigators almost certainly assume he is, that statement is a data point.
Whether it drives behavior towards surrender or further into hiding is a calculation investigators are actively working through.
The political visibility of this case also means that every procedural decision, every delay, every misstep carries consequences beyond the courtroom.
The friction between the Pima County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI over the lab routing decision for the glove DNA is an example.
Days were added to the process because the sample went to a private Florida lab before being submitted to Cotus.
That delay in a case where every day matters medically is a cost that gets scrutinized at the highest levels.
400 investigators, 18,000 FBI tips, [music] 40,000 combined tips, a 24-hour command center, Bluefly technology deployed from helicopters, genealogology running in parallel with Walmart forensics and gun shop canvasing.
This is not a case that is being allowed to go cold.
The resources being applied are sustained and substantial.
Here is where everything stands as of right now.
February 19th, 2026.
Cotus returned no match.
The unknown male DNA from the glove is not in the federal criminal database.
The suspect has no qualifying prior arrest that placed his profile in the system, [music] but genealogy has begun.
The FBI’s specialized unit is building family trees from partial matches in public genealogy databases.
That process which identified the Golden State Killer after four decades is running right now.
And in 2026, it is faster than it has ever been.
[music] Separately, unknown male DNA was collected from inside NY’s home.
Sheriff Nano said partial DNA from the home is also being analyzed.
If that profile matches the glove DNA, investigators have the same unknown male at two locations [music] inside the house and two miles down a specific route.
If the profiles do not match, the investigation has two separate DNA sources to account for.
Either way, the genealogy process applies to both.
Walmart has provided purchase records for every Ozark Trail hiker pack sold in recent weeks and months.
Investigators are cross-referencing those records against surveillance footage at Tucson area stores.
The backpack is a retailer exclusive.
Every sale is logged.
Every checkout lane has cameras.
Every parking lot has license plate readers.
The gun holster visible in the surveillance footage has unique characteristics.
Investigators are working through gun shops with a list of specific names, asking whether anyone on that list purchased firearms or related equipment.
Enhanced imagery of the suspect may show him wearing a ring, a visible, potentially distinctive piece of jewelry that someone who knows him might recognize.
The Guthrie family has been formally and completely cleared.
All siblings, all spouses, they are victims, not suspects.
400 investigators are assigned.
Nearly 40,000 tips have been received.
Bluefly technology is scanning for electronic signals.
The search has not paused.
It is pivoted.
And 19 days after Nancy Guthrie disappeared from her home, the science that was supposed to identify her abductor immediately did not.
But the science that works more slowly, that builds family trees through public [music] databases, that does not require a criminal history, that has never failed when the profile is viable and the tree is built far enough, is running right now.
He wore a mask.
He smashed the camera.
He wore double gloves.
He thought that was enough.
He left his DNA in a glove in the desert.
He bought a Walmart exclusive backpack.
He may have been wearing a ring.
He left biological material inside Nancy Guthri’s home.
And every one of those details is a thread that connects back to him.
Cotus did not have his name, but somewhere in a family tree that is being built right now from public genealogy databases, there is a third cousin, a distant aunt, a relative he may not even know who submitted DNA to trace their ancestry.
And that connection will lead investigators to a specific household, to a specific individual, to a name.
It is not a question of if, it is a question of when.
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We are not looking away from this case.
Not until Nancy Guthrie comes home.
This investigation was presented with respect for Nancy Guthrie and her family.
Our goal is to examine the evidence and search for truth.
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This is a real family, and this is still right now a race against time.
